Zugl.: Tartu, Univ., Diss., 2002

Göttingen, Universiẗat, Diss., 2001. / Erscheinungsjahr an der Haupttitelstelle: 2000.

Zugl.: Diss. Freie Univ. Berlin, 2000.

This thesis is meant to study 17th century courts and their actions at three locations. These locations include Salem in Massachusetts, Livonia during the Swedish rule and Ångermanland in Sweden. The focus cases will include witchcraft, more specifically maleficium which is the form of witchcraft that contemporaries’ often believed could hurt people physically. The thesis will also include a comparison of the three chosen locations which will take part in the discussion. There I will compare the view witchcraft, laws and how the religion played a part. In order to do this study I have gathered books that includes the legal documents from Salem, court cases from Livonia and literature that handles the history of the locations. My findings have shown that the three areas are in general very similar, despite being far apart. People view witches similarly and the courts act thereafter. The laws tend to favor the death penalty although it’s not always used.

No description available.

Karl Gottlob Sonntag (1765 Radeberg – 1827 Riga) Nachdem Sonntag nach seinem Studium an der Universität Leipzig mit dem Abschluss „Magister per Diploma“ vergeblich versuchte, eine angemessene Anstellung für einen beruflichen Aufstieg zu erlangen, folgte er 1788 dem Angebot aus Riga / Livland, als Rektor an die vornehmste Schule der Region zu gehen, an das Gouvernements-Gymnasium. Auf Grund seiner außergewöhnlichen Fähigkeiten begann eine steile Karriere, er wird Oberpastor, Assessor im Kaiserlich-Livländischen Ober-Konsistorium und Generalsuperintendent als oberster kirchlicher Würdenträger. In diesem obersten kirchlichen Amt setzt er sich als Vertreter der Aufklärung, gemeinsam mit dem liberalen Politiker Ludwig August Mellin (1754-1835), gemeinsam für die Ziele von agrarpolitischen und gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen für die Landbevölkerung ein, für die Bauernbefreiung und Abschaffung der Leibeigenschaft. Zu den größten Verdiensten Sonntags wird die Entwicklung einer vereinheitlichten lettischen Schriftsprache unter seiner Regie gesehen, die zu einer Einheit zwischen Lettland, Livland und Kurland führte und damit zur nationalen Einheit. Er bewirkte mit der vereinheitlichten Sprache die kulturelle und nationale Entwicklung mit ihren einheimischen Volksgruppen. Sonntag ließ alle lettisch-sprachigen kirchlichen Schriften einer strengen Prüfung unterziehen, unter Mitarbeit von 8 Pastoren erarbeitete er 1810 sein neues „Deutsches Gesangbuch“, durch das auch Analphabeten durch die Gottesdienste die Sprache vermittelt bekamen. Sonntag wird bis heute im Baltikum hoch verehrt.

The purpose of this study is to explore how the court and church in Livonia worked together to remain the sole authority in the country. The Teutonic knights waged crusades in the Baltic countries during the 13th century, formed the country Livonia and ended up staying. In a country where an ethnic German minority held most of the positions of power it became important to legitimize the reason for it being so. This study will focus on the court case of Thiess from 1691, a man charged with being a werewolf and who refused to acknowledge the German ideology. To highlight the power structure, I turned to Louis Althusser and Marxism which theories included the repressive state apparatus and ideological state apparatuses. With those theories in mind, the use of text analysis and literature on the history of Livonia, the power struggle has become clearer. My findings show the importance of making an example of Thiess due to his influence of the peasants.

Mit historischen Tourenbüchern können Radfahrer das alte Baltikum heute neu entdecken. Das Tourenbuch von Estland von 1897 wird nun in Wikisource transkribiert.:Reisebericht: - Touren-Buch von Estland mit Fortführung der Touren bis in die Städte Nord-Livlands, 1897 - Orientierungskarte zum Tourenbuch von Estland - Baltischer Radfahrer-Kalender für das Jahr 1897 via Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu digitaalarhiiv DIGAR

There were many ways of bordering manliness during the historical period covered by my research. Borders have been metaphorically understood as those invisible, often non-enunciated limits that have safeguarded manliness. There were borders separating masculinity from femininity and from childishnes, but there is also a more distant border, separating masculinity from the bestial. The term un-manliness is a useful concept for this analysis, for it can be used to illuminate the different ways in which masculinity has been interrogated. The concept can also be used in comparative analyses of how tolerance towards men deviating from ideas of ideal masculinity has differed according to situation and culture. It has been my ambition to elucidate the particular attitudes, values, customs, knowledge and requirements that influenced the view of masculinity at both individual and the group level. The clearest-cut aspects of manliness and un-manliness expressed in court proceedings were those having to do with sexuality, relations within the household, and the subordinate and dominant masculinities displayed by different court-room actors. The latter, in turn, reflected contemporary social structures, including the social gap that divided the Livonian peasantry’s serfs or former serfs from the ruling Baltic-German elite. Records from the court proceedings have shown the subordinate masculinity of the defendants, subordinate not only to that of the officers of the court but to that of the witnesses. This subordination was an inevitable consequence of the nature of the accusations, regardless of whether they were deemed well-founded or false.  The defendants were placed in a situation where they were forced constantly to be on the alert, ready to defend themselves and show their best sides. As a result, they would often give extremely clear expression to their views of proper masculinity. Such actors stressed, consciously or unconsciously, certain manly traits and behaviour patterns that characterised themselves and others. Their arguments provide insights into what they thought of each other and how they conceived a man should generally be, behave and act in different situations. By the same token, they clearly showed what kinds of behaviours were considered undesirable or outright unmanly. The positioning of the borders of manliness was linked both to time and to space. Deviations have helped different societies set the borders for what they considered acceptable behaviour. There was a clear cultural and geographical border between Sweden as such, and the Swedish province Livonia. This emerges clearly when one compares Livonian results with earlier studies on bestiality in Sweden. This shows that the view of manliness and the tolerance towards certain kinds of behaviour changed as one moved East.

Vanad reisijuhid pakuvad jalgrattureile võimalust endisaja Baltikumi uuesti avastada. 1897. aastast pärinev Eestimaa reisijuht on nüüd Wikisource’i andmebaasis osaliselt transkribeerituna kättesaadav. / Mit historischen Tourenbüchern können Radfahrer das alte Baltikum heute neu entdecken. Das Tourenbuch von Estland von 1897 wird nun in Wikisource transkribiert.